Fastener setting machine



Dec. 28, 1965 M. J. cARPlNr-:LLA 3,226,281

FASTENER SETTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 22. 1963 4 Sl'xeeos--Sheefl 1 *3M/k 28| ii 5 2.1 39

4 I I Ell la' 5 e 32 aa I INVENTOR.

BY I 30 A 4l 47 7 25 /fa Dec. 28, 1965 M. J. cARPlNl-:LLA 3,226,281

FASTENER SETTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 22, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENTOR.

BWMQKQW Mw@ Dec. 28, 1965 M. J. cARPlNx-:LLA

FASTENER SETTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 22, 1963 INVENTOR.

Dec. 28, 1965 M. J. CARPINELLA FASTENER SETTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Filed Jan. 22, 1963 INVENTOR.

United States Patent Office 3,2262@ Patented Dec. 28, 1965 3,226,2Sll FASTENER SETTENG MACHNE Michael 3. Carpinella, Waterbury, Conn., assigner to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, (Comit, a corporation of Connecticut Filed lan. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 253,183 6 (liaims. (Cl. 156-513) This invention relates to a fastener setting machine and is particularly useful for setting snap fasteners on garments of comparatively flimsy material. in these cases, it is desirable to have a reinforcing piece or patch which is intimately bonded to the garment material in the vicinity around the fastener. This is preferably accomplished by the use of a material which is at least partly thermoplastic wherein heat is required to unite the patch to the garment material in such a way that the threads of the garment are securely bound together.

In thepatent to .lensen 2,992,431 there is shown a machine for simultaneously cutting a patch from a strip and attaching it to the garment simultaneously with the attachment of the fastener, but in this case, the patch is held only by the fastener and would not provide a sufficient reinforcement for fiirnsy materials.

The problem solved by the present invention, therefore, is to simultaneously blank and attach the piece of thermoplastic material by the use of heat while the snap fastener parts are being secured. In part, this is accomplished by a novel arrangement of the fastener member retaining fingers rather than the usual side moving spring jaws as in the Jensen patent. My invention utilizes a pair of long thin fingers which are lightly spring-held so that they may be pushed downwardly merely by engagement with a strip of flexible material from which the patch is made.

Also, instead of having a separate spring-mounted blanking punch as in the Jensen patent, my invention utilizes a unitary fastener' member setting die and blanking punch carrying an integral depending skirt portion which can conveniently house an electrical heating element. With this arrangement, of course, the strip-blanking punch is stationary.

lt is, of course, an object of the invention to provide an efficient way of heating the top annular surface of the blanking punch without `excessively heating the retaining lingers.

Preferably, the unit carrying the blanking punch is the lower unit, and also heat is applied to the springloaded platen pad on the top unit so that the heat flows not only to the patch itself, but to the other side of the garment material whereby the plastic will flow into and around the threads of the garment.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown for purpose of illustration, a preferred embodiment of my invention. In these drawings:

FIG. l is a front view of the setting station of a fastener setting machine embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the principal working parts of the machine;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section at right angles to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a View similar to FIG. 2 showing the upper and lower units ready for the blank'cutting operation;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the lower unit;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing the tools in elementesetting position;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the blanking punch, die-supporting post and element-retaining fingers;

FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the various parts for a complete socket and stud assembly;

FIG. 9 is a View showing the stud and rivet assembled to a support with the reinforcing patch; and,

FIG. l0 is a perspective view of a portion of the patch strip.

Referring to the drawing, FIG. l shows a portion of a fastener setting machine having the stationary head il@ and a plunger 50 carrying the upper setting unit A and a pedestal il on which the lower setting unit B is mounted. This machine is adapted for cutting a patch P from a strip S of material fed through the machine and heatsealing said patch to a garment piece G coincident with the setting of snap fastener members. The strip S is preferably made from a piece of fabric having one surface coated with a heat-sensitive plastic material S. The members to be set by the machine, here shown in the several figures, may be stud l2 and a hollow rivet i3.

The lower unit B of the machine that serves to cut the patch P and set it against the garment piece G with the rivet 13 as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, consists of a base 14 mounted on the pedestal lll. Reciprocably mounted above the base f4 is a spring-loaded pad 15 which is guided by a pair of pins 16 attached to the pad as by screws 16a and slidable in suitable holes 17 in said base.

Downward movement of the pad 15 is resisted by a coil spring 18 held under initial compression by a pair of stop brackets i9 attached to said pad `and having their lower ends hooked underneath a projection 14a on base 14 (FIGS. 1 and 3). The upper end of the spring 1S is centralized by a depending sleeve 15a on the pad l5 and has its lower end seated on a shoulder 2da formed on a hollow punch holder 20 projecting upwardly from the base t4.

The lower setting unit B includes a stationary combined fastener member setting die and blanking punch 2l wherein the setting die portion 22 is recessed slightly below the top surface of the blanking punch and a heating element 32 and rivet-retaining fingers 24. A central stationary supporting post 2S is mounted on the punch holder 20 through an intermediate bushing 26. The blanking punch 2l is anchored to the post 25 by a bolt 27 having a head 28 set into the blanking punch 21. The upper face of the bolt head 28 is flush with the setting die portion 22 of the blanking punch and thus bears on the central portion of the hollow rivet 13 during the setting operation. The blanking punch 2l also has a depending skirt 29 which is shouldered to a flange 30 extending outwardly from the post 25. The blanking punch 2l with its skirt 29, is all held together as one unit by a nut-andthread connection 3l at the lower end of the bolt 27. The spring fingers as seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 7, are joined to a flanged base 24a that is normally held against the underside of the post flange 3th by a relatively light spring 47. The fingers 24 extend upwardly through suitable slots Sila in the post flange 3i? and also through similar slots Zia in the head of the blanking punch 2i,

In order to impart heat to the blanking punch 2l for the purpose of heat-sealing the patch P to the garment, and electric heater element in the form of a coil 32 is housed within a chamber 33 defined by the punch skirt 29 and ad jacent part of post 25. The outside diameter of the heater coil 32 is such that its helices contact the inside wall of the punch skirt 29 for a better heat transfer, and preferably, are spaced somewhat from the fingers 24. The terminal ends of the heater coil 32 pass through suitable radial slots 30h in the post flange 3? and may be connected to a source of power through cables 34 and 35 (FIGS. 3 and 7). Also, to control the heat in the blanking punch 21, a thermocouple 36 is fitted into the head of said punch and has the usual conductors 37 leading to a suitable control unit (not shown).

The spring-loaded pad 15 has a pressure plate 38 secured to the top surface thereof. Below the plate 38, there is a channel 39 providing a strip guideway by which the patch strip S is directed through the machine. The plate 38 carries a blanking die 40 which, in co-operation with the upper sharp edge of the punch 21, cuts out the patch P from the strip S during the setting operation.

The hollow rivet 13 used to attach the stud 12 (FIGS. 8 and 9) is of the self-piercing type that will normally pierce its own hole when attached to a garment. However, it has been found that when used in conjunction with a plastic-coated strip as in the present application, the upper end of the rivet shank tends to carry the strip material up into the blanking die prior to the blanking op eration, thus producing a wrinkled and irregular patch. To overcome this problem, the machine is equipped with means to provide an opening in the strip S ahead of the setting station to allow the rivet shank to freely pass through the strip prior to the blanking operation. To preclude any scrap from becoming lodged between the patch and the garment material, thereby presenting an unsightly appearance to the patch and material to which the fastener is secured, it is desirable to shear a tongue from the strip rather than pierce a hole so that the tongue will be carried along with the strip and caught in between the stud and rivet during the setting operation. For this purpose, a stationary shearing punch 41 is mounted on the base 14 to the right of the setting station as seen in FIG. 2, and has a shearing end 41a in the shape of approximately of a cylinder. This punch co-operates with an aligned die 42 in the plate 38 for shearing a tongue 43 out of the strip S, thus providing an opening 43a through which the rivet shank may pass. Such a tongue is shown at 43 in FIGS. 4 and 10.

The hollow rivet 13 of the fastener may be fed into the lower unit by the usual feed track 44 and pusher slide 45, said rivet being led into the pad 15 through an inverted T-slot 46 and retained in grooves 24b provided on the inner surfaces of the spring fingers 24.

The upper fastener setting unit A as shown in FIG. 2 is secured to the usual plunger 50 of a fastener setting machine and consists of a punch 51 and a receiver 52 slidably mounted on the end of said punch. The receiver 52 has an enlarged head 53 in which is slidably mounted a pair of fastener member holding jaws 54 normally tensioned inwardly by a spring member S. The fastener member, which in this ease is the stud 12, is fed through a guideway 56 by a pusher slide 57 and into the receiver 52 through a suitable slot 58 and there caught by the jaws 54.

In order to heat the garment for effecting a better seal for the patch P, a heater platen 59 is attached to the underside of the receiver head 53 and carries an electric heater element 60. The element 68 is connected to a suitable source of power through a cable 61. From FIG. 2, it is to be noted that the heater platen 59 is positioned some distance below the work end of the punch 51. This is for the purpose of allowing more time for the platen to transmit heat to the garment piece prior to the actual setting operation.

As noted, a relatively heavy coil spring 62 in the upper unit A acts between the receiver head 53 and a flange 63 formed as an integral part of the punch 51. This spring 62 is preloaded sufficiently to force the compression pad of the lower unit downwardly against the counteracting influence of the spring 18 of the lower unit B until the patch blanking operation is completed.

In order to intermittently feed the patch strip S through the machine, the following mechanism is provided:

The strip stock comes from a reel 64 pivoted in a bracket 65 attached to the pedestal 11 at the right of the lower unit B (see FIG. 1). The strip S is guided through the channel 39 and on the opposite side of the unit B, the strip is drawn through the machine by a ratchetdriven mechanism. Specifically, this mechanism consists of a large knurled wheel 66 and a smaller pressureapplying wheel 67 mounted on plates 68 attached to the base 14. The larger Wheel 66 is intermittently driven by a ratchet wheel 69 keyed to the Wheel shaft 7). The ratchet wheel 69 is actuated by a pawl 71 carried by a plate 72 pivoted on shaft 70. Oscillatory motion is imparted to the plate 72 by a lost-motion linkage 73 having its lower end connected to the plate 72 and its upper end connected to a bracket 74. The bracket 74 is attached to a slide 75 movable in guideways '76 secured to the head 10. The slide 75 is connected directly to the plunger 56 as by screws 77, and from the plunger 50, the linkage 73 derives its upward motion. Downward motion is imparted to the linkage 73 by means of a spring 78 connected between the linkage 73 and the plate 68.

In the operation of the machine, it will be understood that the stud 12 and the hollow rivet 13 are fed into their respective receivers from a previous cycle of operation. A garment piece G is positioned between the units A and B supported on the pad plate 38 and properly registered as to the position the fastener members to be set upon the garment. The machine is then set into operation whereupon the plunger 5t) will descend carrying the unit A with it, causing the heater platen 59 to first contact the garment piece G and compress it firmly against the pad plate 38. Upon continued downward movement of the unit B and by reason of the relatively heavy spring 62, the pad 15 with plate 38 and interposed strip S, will start to move downwardly. During the initial movement of the pad 15, the shank of the rivet 13 will project through the opening 43a previously sheared in strip S. When the upper ends of the fingers 24- contact the strip S, they will be pressed downwardly by the strip against the influence of the light spring 47. When the pad 15 is depressed to the position shown in FIG. 4, the blanking punch 21 in co-operation with the die 46, is ready to cut out the reinforcing patch P.

Continued downward movement of the pad 15 will blank out the patch P, leaving it resting on top of the punch 21 and as the upper unit A continues its final downward stroke, the patch P along with the flange of the rivet 13, Will be positioned against the underside of the garment piece G. Further downward movement of the receiver head 53' with the heater platen 59 will be checked by reason of the stationary blanking punch 21 and interposed garment material and patch P. After the arrested movement of the receiver head 53, the punch 51 will continue its downward stroke to the position shown in FIG. 6. This will cause the hollow rivet 13 to be upset within the stud head to secure the fastener member to the garment piece along with the patch P.

It will be understood that as soon as the receiver platen 59 contacts the garment piece G upon the pad plate 38, heat will be transmitted to said garment piece. Like- Wise, as soon as the blanking punch 21 contacts the strip S, heat will also be transmitted thereto until such time as the parts are all compressed together as seen in FIG. 6. The period of time that the platen 59 is in direct contact with the garment piece and the heated blanking punch 21 is in direct contact with the patch P during the setting stroke as well as during the retracting stroke of the plunger 50 should be about 1/3 of the complete machine cycle of operation for a single setting. This time element is sufficient to soften plastic material S' on the patch P and cause it to impregnate the woven material of the garment piece.

During the final stroke of the setting machine, the shearing punch 41 will shear out another tongue 43 and provide another opening 43a in the strip S. After the completion of the fastener setting operation, the plunger 5t) will ascend carrying with it the upper unit A, and at the same time, rotate the wheel 66 through the pawl 71 and ratchet 69 to draw another portion of the strip through the machine a sufficient amount to bring the opening 43a and sheared tongue 43 in line with the setting station of the machine. Also, during the upward stroke of the plunger 50, another stud and rivet element will be fed into the machine by their pusher slides 57 and 45, respectively and the machine is then ready for the next fastener setting operation.

The machine here disclosed is adapted to set the stud 12 and the hollow rivet 13 upon the garment piece G while also fusing the patch P. It is to be understood that this same type of machine with minor changes to the die and plunger, can be used for setting a socket 80 and a prong ring 81, such as shown in FIG. 8, upon a garment piece. However, in setting the socket and prong ring, there is no need for an opening 43a in the patch strip S, therefore, the shearing punch 41 may be eliminated. The machines for setting the stud and rivet, or the socket and prong ring, in either case will set the patch and fuse it to the underside of a garment piece so that the patch will be normally concealed from the front of the garment.

While one form of the invention is herein disclosed and described, it is to be understood that various changes can be made in the construction and assembly of the parts without departing from the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a fastener setting machine, a lower unit comprising (a) a stationary combined fastener member setting die and blanking punch wherein the setting die portion is recessed slightly below the top surface of the blanking punch;

(b) a pair of fastener-holding fingers normally projecting vertically upwardly through and above the top surface of said blanking punch;

(c) light spring means for supporting said lingers whereby they may be pressed downwardly to said top surface of the blanking punch;

(d) said blanking punch also having a depending skirt portion of substantially the same outer diameter as said blanking punch;

(e) an electrical heating element mounted inside said skirt portion;

(f) a stationary supporting post extending upwardly through said heating element;

(g) a spring-loaded pad having a strip guideway therein; and

(h) a blanking die xed in said pad in vertical alignment with said blanking punch.

2. In a fastener setting machine, the combination delined in claim l, wherein said heating element consists of a heating coil bearing against the inner surface of said depending skirt portion.

3. In a fastener setting machine, the combination defined in claim 1, together with an upper plunger unit having a heated platen for heating a garment piece disposed between the upper plunger unit and the lower unit. 4. In a fastener setting machine, the combination of (a) a stationary supporting post;

5 (b) a combined setting die and blanking punch carried thereby;

(c) a pair of fastener holding fingers projecting upwardly through recesses in said post and blanking punch and normally projecting above the top surface of said blanking punch;

(d) light spring means for supporting said ingers whereby they may be pressed downwardly to the top surface of said blanking punch;

(e) said blanking punch having a depending skirt portion surrounding said post in spaced relationship thereto;

(f) an electrical heating element mounted inside said skirt portion;

(g) a spring-loaded compression pad located above said combined setting die and blanking punch and having a strip guideway therein; and,

(h) a blanking die xed in said pad in vertical alignment with said blanking punch.

5. In a fastener setting machine, the combination delined in claim 4, together with stationary supporting means for said post and a bolt extending through said post for securing said combined setting die and blanking punch to said post.

6. In a fastener setting machine for setting a fastener member and heat-sealing reinforcing patch to a support piece, the combination of (a) an upper plunger unit and (b) a lower unit having a combined fastener member `setting die, blanking punch and blanking die;

(c) means for feeding a strip coated with a thermoplastic material through the lower unit between the blanking punch and blanking die;

(d) said blanking die and blanking punch serving to cut out a reinforcing patch from said strip co-incident with the fastener setting operation;

(e) means associated with said lower unit for heating said patch and one of the elements of said fastener member; and,

(f) means associated with the upper plunger unit for heating said support piece prior to the fastener setting operation.

No references cited.

EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner. D. J. DRUMMOND, Assistant Examiner, 

1. IN A FASTENER SETTING MACHINE, A LOWER UNIT COMPRISING (A) A STATIONARY COMBINED FASTERNER MEMBER SETTING DIE AND BANKING PUNCH WHEREIN THE SETTING DIE PORTION IS RECESSED SLIGHTLY BELOW THE TOP SURFACE OF THE BLANKING PUNCH; (B) A PAIR OF FASTENER-HOLDING FINGERS NORMALLY PROJECTING VERTICALLY UPWARDLY THROUGH AND ABOVE THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID BLANKING PUNCH; (C) LIGHT SPRING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID FINGERS WHEREBY THEY MAY BE PRESSED DOWNWARDLY TO SAID TOP SURFACE OF THE BLANKING PUNCH; (D) SAID BLANKING PUNCH ALSO HAVING A DEPENDING SKIRT PORTION OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME OUTER DIAMETER AS SAID BLANKING PUNCH; (E) AN ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT MOUNTED INSIDE SAID SKIRT PORTION; 